Around three o'clock in the afternoon that day, Otto? Kali Woods encountered an assault gun battalion.

"What's going on!" Otto shouted at the assault gun at the front row on the side of the road.

An officer immediately ran forward, saluted Otto, and then reported respectfully: "Mr. Major, the Russian armored units occupied the village in front, and our battalion and accompanying infantry made a surprise attack and failed to take the village. ”

"When did you assault?"

"Just now, we lost nine assault guns, and the infantry also suffered about thirty casualties."

At this time, what looked like the commander of an assault gun battalion was running towards Kali Woods' car, led by an armored soldier.

"Hello," the battalion commander, who looked more like a middle-aged worker's uncle, saluted Otto, "this is the 37th Provisional Assault Artillery Battalion, and our battalion is full of recruits, and we can't break through the defenses of the Russian tanks, and we suffered a loss in the shots, so I ordered it to be withdrawn." ”

"What was the order you were given?"

"Defend the bridge next to the village ahead, sir."

Otto smacked his lips, and he ordered the brigade behind him by radio: "All on alert, I'm going to check on the situation." ”

With that, he jumped out of the chariot and came to the commander of the assault gun battalion.

"I'm going to see the terrain."

"Yes, no problem. I've just been beaten back, and the terrain is very familiar. Saying that, the battalion commander turned around and pointed to the motorcycle parked on the side of the road, "Just use that for transportation, right?" ”

Five minutes later, Otto came to the high ground near the village called Malinovka, where there was a wood, and he carefully observed the enemy in the village at the edge of the woods.

"Two chariots on guard at the head of the village, other vehicles in the village." The commander of the assault gun battalion explained, "Look at those earthen walls, they just broke through those earthen walls and appeared in front of us, which frightened my boys. Recruits are like that, their ability to deal with the unexpected is terrible. ”

"Why did they park their chariots in the village?" Otto asked suspiciously, "What should I do when I encounter a surprise attack?" ”

"I don't know." The commander of the assault gun battalion shrugged.

Germany's operational guidelines for armored forces require combat vehicles to maintain a good firing range and vision when on alert and defense, and both Otto and the battalion commander of the assault gun battalion are deeply affected by this guideline, so it is natural that they are incomprehensible about the actions of the Russian army.

Otto continued to carefully observe the road with binoculars, and at the same time, the commander of the assault artillery battalion was also explaining: "The land near the village has been plowed and is very soft. I estimate that with the weight of a tiger, it will be a bit difficult to drive over this cultivated land, so I can only take the road. ”

"yes, fortunately there are no craters on the road, so you don't have to break through the beam." Otto finished and put away the binoculars, "Okay, I understand, we have to go back quickly and start moving." The enemy would not have thought that we would come back so quickly, this is our advantage. ”

**

"The road to the village allows the two Tigers to form a staggered formation, one in front of the other, and Kosher and I are the strikers."

"Okay." Kosher replied confidently, "But there's a company in there, right?" ”

"At least one company, I saw a Russian battalion-level communications vehicle, under a tree on the west side of the village, well hidden, that one was handed over to me, and I had to take the lead in killing it. The combat vehicles produced by the Americans are not very capable of communication, and the radio communication distance is short, and killing that vehicle can cut off their radio communication. ”

"So that is, we may meet a battalion in the village?"

"Yes, but they parked their cars in the village, they are not suitable for firepower, and we can kill them one by one. That's one of the two reasons why we use a two-car assault, and the other is that the road can only be driven by two cars, and the crops on both sides of the road will be trapped even by assault guns. ”

"Well, a very reasonable tactic."

"Reasonable?" The battalion commander of the assault artillery battalion was shocked, "You only have two of them, even the Tiger is too risky!" Let's go to the ...... together"

"And then they all got stuck in the dirt and were blown up? No, two is enough, the village is so narrow, we won't face a lot of enemies at the same time, as long as we can guarantee that we will destroy the enemy as soon as we find it, we can always ensure that we will not face too many enemies. ”

After speaking, Otto glanced at Kosher, who had a completely "let's have a big fight" expression, so he patted the shoulder of the commander of the assault gun battalion: "Don't worry, Koschel's crew and I are all veterans who have fought all over the field, we can do it, which is also the reason why the two highest-ranking commanders of our troops will attack together." ”

In the command sequence of the 502nd battalion, the first is Otto, and the second is Kosher, who is the commander of the first company, and the staff officer of the battalion headquarters is only responsible for clerical work, and has no military command.

"Gentlemen!" Otto continued, "The rest of the Tiger is on standby on the anticline of the high ground ahead, and as soon as we storm the village, you drive to the high ground, because there may be enemy chariots trying to go around our rear from outside the village, and this must be avoided. In addition, I see that there is still a certain distance between the village and the bridge we have received, and I do not want to suddenly have Russian tanks appear on the other side of the river and cross the bridge to join the battle, you can block the bridge on the high ground and make them dare not go up the bridge with fierce artillery fire. For other things, please wait for my radio instructions, done. Ready to go! ”

The armored corps immediately went into action, and at this time the commander of the assault gun battalion asked: "What about me?" ”

"After you drove up the high ground in the Tiger style, you also spread out on the side of the high ground, and I hope that the assault gun can guard the other direction, which is the bush by the river, it seems that the bush is relatively sparse, just enough to hide the chariot, I don't want them to surprise us."

After giving the order, Otto climbed the turret, and only then did he remember that he was at the same level as the commander of the assault gun battalion, and it stands to reason that he should not command the assault gun battalion, so thinking about it, he looked back and found that the commander of the assault gun battalion had gone away.

Otto shook his head and burrowed into the turret.

"Start the engine and move on!"

The tiger roared and drove forward.

Ten seconds after Otto activated, Kosher also started his chariot, and the two Tigers drove down the road towards the high ground.

Otto once again retracted his body into the turret, leaving only a boat-shaped cap on the outside - this was already his standard combat state, and under his leadership, the commanders of the entire 502 Heavy Battalion liked to probe from the conning tower in this way, and generally did not retract into the tank.

This behavior was strictly forbidden by Guderian, but Rommel appreciated it, and the personalities of the two officers are also evident.

The moment he climbed to the top of the hill, Otto ordered: "Stop shooting!" To the left of the entrance of the target village. ”

Although he and Kosher did not communicate with each other, they had long been accustomed to one being in charge of the left and the other in charge of the right.

Less than a second after Otto's car fired, Kosher also fired, and there were two more torches at the entrance to the village.

"Onward! Target village west tree under the radio car! Hit with high-explosive bullets and shoot on the move! ”

"Understood!"

As long as the high-explosive bomb hits the chassis of the radio car, it can be destroyed, so Otto is ready to use the tiger's vertical stability.

The 90-mm high-explosive bomb exploded a towering cloud of smoke, and the antenna of the radio car flew high.

Otto heard the gunner laughing, and it seemed that he was enjoying the scene.

Two Tigers rushed towards the village at a gallop as a third enemy chariot rushed through the earthen wall - as the commander of the assault gun battalion had said.

"At 11 o'clock, stop shooting!"

At the same time as the tank stopped, the artillery was already turned into place, and there were only a few seconds between stopping and firing.

The enemy's turret was blown directly into the air.

"Oh, this shot is on the rack!" Kosher spoke in a relaxed tone.

The next moment Otto heard Koscher's command: "At two o'clock, it is coming out from behind the tree!" ”

Apparently, Kosher was in a hurry and did not put down the microphone of the war workshop communication.

When Otto's chariot began to move again, the new enemy turned into a new torch.

"Onward! Let's rush into the village and have a good time! As soon as Otto finished speaking, his eyes shook at something, "It's still 11 o'clock, and something is moving behind the house, fire!" ”

The Tiger opened fire, and the armor-piercing bullet pierced directly through the wooden house, and the back of the house immediately burst into flames.

Saying that it was too late and too soon, Otto was the first to storm the village.

As he crossed the first house, he saw a chariot turning its turret.

The gunner immediately opened fire, but at this moment the car jolted, and the shell did not hit the horizontal hull of the tank, but grazed the rear of the hull and flew away.

Otto chuckled in his heart, but he didn't expect the turret of the chariot to stop turning, and then its members climbed out of the chariot and abandoned the cart!

Otto was surprised when a new chariot burst out of the crossroads ahead.

"Right ahead!"

As soon as Otto had finished speaking, the enemy drove over - it seemed that they had not seen Otto and the others enter the village.

At this time, Kosher fired, and Otto knew that Kosher was hitting one without looking, because the shrill screams filled Otto's ears.

"Keep going! Henry," Otto said sharply to the gunner after giving the order, "hold on, understand?" As long as you are patient enough, a qiē will fulfill people's wishes, if it weren't for the inexplicable **** luck just now, we might have died! ”

The gunner did not answer, but Otto knew that this would be enough, and the gunner was also a veteran, no problem.

Otto's cart then entered a small open area with three chariots parked, and their members were shaking their cranks behind the chariots to start them.

When they saw Otto, they immediately threw down the cranks and ran to the house behind them.

"One to make up for one! Save them from moving and beating us later. Otto picked up the wireless phone after speaking, "Kosher, you go to the front, I will guard your rear." Wait for me after occupying the crossroads in front! ”

"Understood!"

The three bursts were quickly completed, and the three vehicles that did not start turned into three torches.

At this time, the whole village was drowned out by the sound of engines, and no one knew how many tanks were in action in the village. Otto commanded the chariot and Kosher side by side, and then gave a loud order: "The road is wide enough, let's go together!" One person fights on one side! ”

"Okay!"

In the next few minutes, the two German crews each completed a dozen emergency stop shots with extreme skill, and at the same time, there was a constant sound of artillery outside the village, and it seemed that the remaining Tiger was annihilating those who tried to go around the rear.

As Otto and Kosher stormed the church, which was the center of the village, the voice of the second platoon leader was heard over the radio: "They retreated the chief, no, it was as if they had come around from the other side of the village, lined up with their backs to the riverbank. What should we do? ”

"Shoot with them." Otto ordered without hesitation, "Koscher, we will also rush out from the other end of the village, you are responsible for guarding the direction of the bridge to prevent others from hitting me in the back, and I will flank those bastards!" ”

"No problem!"